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The Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute (SEI) has announced the slate of software engineering thought-leaders who will serve as keynote speakers for the Team Software Process (TSP) Symposium 2013. Held in Dallas, Texas, on September 16-19, the TSP Symposium 2013 keynote line-up includes Bill Curtis, senior vice president and chief scientist with Cast Software; Enrique Ibarra, senior vice president of technology of the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV); and Robert Behler, chief operating officer of the SEI.

The symposium theme, When Software Really Matters, explores the idea that when product quality is critical, high-quality practices are the best way to achieve it.

“When a software system absolutely must work correctly, quality must be built in from the start. A disciplined approach to quality also offers the benefit of lower lifecycle costs. The TSP promotes the application of practices that lead to superior, high-quality products,” said James McHale, TSP Symposium 2013 technical chair. “Our keynote speakers and representatives from industry and government organizations from around the world will share how using TSP helps organizations build quality in from the start when there’s no room for error.”

Curtis will assert that the stakes for software-caused operational problems are now larger than ever, approaching a half-billion dollars per incident. Every other aspect of the business is managed by numbers, including IT operations. Software lags behind, however, because the culture of craftsmanship still prevails. Curtis’s talk will challenge that culture: Quality measurement will be challenged for under-measuring non-functional, structural quality, the cause of many operational disasters. Productivity measurement will be challenged for not penalizing baselines when rework is shifted into future releases as technical debt. Software measurement will be challenged to better express outcomes in terms that justify investments for improving quality. The word “quality” will be challenged as the wrong way to frame the argument. Curtis will propose a measurement stack or measurement pyramid to help translate software numbers to business numbers. At the foundation of this pyramid are the Personal Software Process (PSP) and TSP.

Ibarra will detail the Mexican Stock Exchange’s (BMV) broad plan of technological renovation that included migration to a new state-of-the-art data center and creating new operational systems with better functionalities and quality attributes. Since 2005, the BMV, which is responsible for operating the cash and derivatives market of the country and is the only exchange in Mexico, has faced the constant challenge of accommodating an exponential growth of demand for its transactional services as well as pressure from the market to offer services with better response times and functionalities. One of the most challenging software projects included in this technological renovation plan was the redesign and construction of the operational system known as the trading engine, which has strict and ambitious requirements for speed (latency), scalability, and continuous availability. The new system, which was to be designed and built internally, and the project were called MoNeT. The BMV had two goals for MoNeT: making sure a carefully considered and reviewed system architecture was in place prior to building the system and adopting a software development process that maximizes the quality of the new system and ensures that it complies with its intended quality attributes. Ibarra will describe the most relevant aspects of the MoNeT project, its performance in production, and the business impact it had on the BMV.

Behler, one of only 139 individuals qualified as pilots of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird aircraft, will describe his experience flying the fastest, most physically demanding aircraft in the world to gather vital data during the Cold War and the teamwork approach it took to develop the aircraft. The SR-71 was developed in the 1960s with myriad sophisticated sensors used to acquire highly specific intelligence data. The aircraft remains an icon of American aerospace engineering to this day and is considered to be the most effective reconnaissance aircraft in history.

In addition to the keynote speakers, substantial technical program, and organized networking events, the TSP Symposium 2013 also offers practitioners an in-depth learning opportunity with full-day tutorials on introductory and advanced TSP concepts.

“I am very excited about this year’s lineup of keynote speakers and technical presenters. The symposium should be stimulating with presentations on a broad array of topics related to quality-focused software development. It is also an excellent way for participants to network and exchange diverse ideas about how they have used the PSP/TSP approach to achieve their software quality goals,” said Mark Kasunic, Symposium co-chair.